Hospital readmissions more than double the cost of patient care, according to a study published by the Alliance for Home Health Quality and Innovation.

For the study, researchers analyzed data from a five percent sample of Medicare patients for the years 2007 – 2009. Key findings include:

17.4 percent of the patient data analyzed contained one readmission, and five percent contained more than one.

Episodes of care that contain a readmission have average Medicare payments that are more than twice that of episodes that do not. The average Medicare episode payment increased proportionately with each additional readmission.

The likelihood of readmission increased with the number of chronic conditions that Medicare patients had.

The severity of a patient’s chronic condition was associated with a higher cost of readmission.